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  • Book cover of Desolation
    Mark Morton

     · 2024

    A gritty, revealing heavy metal memoir by Lamb of God’s guitarist and lyricist, Mark Morton, which explores both his life in music and his tumultuous path through addiction and into recovery For a band as extreme as Lamb of God, mainstream success and touring the world to massive audiences was an almost surreal achievement. But for guitarist and lyricist Mark Morton, the triumph was dulled by the pain of addiction and loss. In DESOLATION: A Heavy Metal Memoir, Morton traces the highs and the lows of his career and personal life, revealing how the pressures of success and personal battles eventually came into conflict with his dedication to the creative process. Morton writes about the greatest personal tragedy of his life: the death of his newborn daughter, which plunged Morton further into hopelessness. Surrounded by bandmates living their wildest dreams, Morton wanted nothing more than to disappear, ingesting potentially lethal cocktails of drugs and alcohol on a daily basis. And yet intertwined with self-destruction and harrowing heartbreak, there were moments of joy, self-acceptance, and incredible connection. Morton developed close relationships with his bandmates and crew members, sharing experiences that have made for some strange and hilarious tales. He also gained a greater sense of purpose through interactions with his fans, who remind him that his work reaches people on a deeply personal level. DESOLATION is, at its core, about Morton's journey as a musician navigating self-doubt, anxiety, and the progressive disease of addiction, and ultimately finding relative serenity and gratitude.

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    "For a band as extreme as Lamb of God, achieving mainstream success and touring the world to massive audiences was an almost surreal accomplishment. But for guitarist and lyricist Mark Morton, the triumph was dulled by the pain of addiction and loss. In Desolation: A Heavy Metal Memoir, Morton traces the highs and lows of his career and private life, revealing how the pressures of success and personal battles eventually came into conflict with his dedication to the creative process. Morton writes about the greatest tragedy of his life: the death of his newborn daughter, which plunged Morton further into hopelessness. Surrounded by bandmates living their wildest dreams, Morton wanted nothing more than to disappear, ingesting potentially lethal cocktails of drugs and alcohol on a daily basis. And yet, intertwined with self-destruction and harrowing heartbreak were moments of joy, self-acceptance, and incredible connection. Morton developed close relationships with his bandmates and crew members, sharing experiences that make for some strange and hilarious tales. He also gained a greater sense of purpose through interactions with his fans, who remind him that his work reaches people on a deeply personal level"--Dust jacket flap.

  • Book cover of Cupboard Love 2
    Mark Morton

     · 2004

    Cupboard Love explores the fascinating stories behind familiar and no-so-familiar gastronomic terms. Who knew that the word pomegranate is related to the word grenade? Light-hearted and thoroughly researched, packed with linguistic lore and cultural trivia.

  • Book cover of The Lover's Tongue
    Mark Morton

     · 2009

    This delightful book includes over 100 mini-essays explaining the origins and historical development of words in our language that pertain to love and sex. Do you know, for example, what a 78 is? Here's a hint: like the old 78 rpm records, the term refers to a man who is ... well, on the fast side! Diligently researched, The Lover's Tongue is written in a light-hearted style. A dictionary of a different kind, this book is the perfect gift for that special someone, or for the connoisseur of language and history in your life

  • Book cover of Cupboard Love
  • No image available

    Mark Morton

     · 1998

    Cupboard Love explores the fascinating stories behind familiar and no-so-familiar gastronomic terms. Who knew that the word pomegranate is related to the word grenade? Light-hearted and thoroughly researched, packed with linguistic lore and cultural trivia.

  • Book cover of Hop Up
    Mark Morton

     · 2002

    As hot rodding boomed in the early 1950s, Hop Up magazine was right at the forefront of the growing hobby. The pocket-sized, 48-page monthly featured photos and information on hot rods, customs, and dry lakes racing. Packed full of how-to articles, performance reports, and period ads, this volume is ideal for enthusiasts who want to learn more about the history of hot rodding. Restorers and builders working on retro rod project cars will find the old issues of Hop Up to be an indisp

  • Book cover of The Headmasters
    Mark Morton

     · 2024

    How do you learn from the past if there isn’t one? Sixty years ago, something awful happened. Something that killed everyone except the people at Blue Ring. Something that caused the Headmasters to appear. But Maple doesn’t know what it was. Because talking about the past is forbidden. Everyone at Blue Ring has a Headmaster. They sink their sinewy coils into your skull and control you, using your body for backbreaking toil and your mind to communicate with each other. When someone dies, their Headmaster transfers to someone new. But so do the dead person’s memories, and if one of those memories surfaces in the new host’s mind, their brain breaks. That’s why talking about the past is forbidden. Maple hates this world where the past can’t exist and the future promises only more suffering. And she hates the Headmasters for making it that way. But she doesn’t know how to fight them – until memories start to surface in her mind from someone who long ago came close to defeating the Headmasters. But whose memories are they? Why aren’t they harming her? And how can she use them to defeat the Headmasters? Maple has to find the answers herself, unable to tell anyone what she’s experiencing or planning—not even Thorn, the young man she’s falling in love with. Thorn, who has some forbidden secrets of his own . . .

  • Book cover of Hop Up
    Mark Morton

     · 2002

    Bring yourself up-to-date on the state of the traditional rod and custom art as practiced in 2001. Compiled from the year's issues of Hop Up are 12 rod and custom cars, race cars, photo archives from rod and custom scrapbooks, early hot rods, a '32 coupe restoration, and much more. Hop Up is the self-proclaimed "traditionalist" magazine, catering to the individualist hot rodder and custom owner bent on creating a car suited to their own tastes, not on the fashion of the day.

  • Book cover of Dirty Words

    A witty and original look at the language of love and sex, from words of seduction, to words for genitalia and the dilemma of describing 'the deed' itself. What flower takes its name from the human testicle? Is your husband rantallion? Does your wife sport a merkin? What's a wittol, and why were they once drummed out of town while sitting backwards on a horse? Is sacofricosis a crime, a disease or an hors d'oeuvre? Morton roams through centuries of etymological lore to explain the origins of the language of love and sex. It is the perfect book for language-lovers and lovers alike.